Presently used methods for analyzing biological specimens for cellular dysmorphology and microbial infection are both time consuming and costly. For example, tissue samples taken from patients, such as needle biopsies and aspirates, typically must be chemically fixed and stained, and oftentimes sectioned, and then prepared on microscope slides before they can be examined.
Additionally, in many circumstances, biological samples must first be cultured before the processing steps mentioned above. Another problem concerns the resulting specimen itself, which is usually substantially altered by fixation and fragmentation during the preparation process.
Another problem concerns unnecessary procedures, which again waste time and resources.
In a typical urinalysis, for example, a sample is obtained from a patient and subjected to a "dipstick" screening procedure. Light microscopic examination of the sediment following centrifugation of the urine specimen is then performed. If there are any abnormal results from these examinations, the sample is transferred to a laboratory for microbiological culture and antibiotic sensitivity studies, which typically take from 24 to 48 hours, or longer, to obtain the results. However, in many instances as much as 80% of the urine samples submitted for culture and sensitivity studies do not result in the detection of clinically significant bacterial presence, thus wasting valuable technician time and laboratory material resources. Furthermore, in rural areas or third world countries, samples must typically be transported to remote locations for evaluation, which can magnify the problem due to additional time delays, plus additional transportation and handling costs.
The present invention represents a departure from standard microbial and morphologic studies in the practice of clinical medicine by modifying microscope slides to be used as screening tools for on-site determination of possible infection or presence of cellular dysmorphology. The slides of the present invention avoid the time associated with preparing traditional slide preparations and they further provide a simpler and less expensive alternative to the currently utilized microscopy screening procedures, such as the Gram histochemical stain used to detect bacteria and other microorganisms; the potassium hydroxide (KOH) preparation used to screen for fungi and yeast; and the darkfield examination used to detect spirochetes and other microorganisms less than 1 micrometer (uM) in diameter or size, such as mycoplasma, other mollicutes, legionella, etc.